The present disclosure relates generally to network interface cards and, more particularly, to upgrading a descriptor engine for a network interface card without cooperation by the network interface card.
Circular first-in-first-out (FIFO) buffers called descriptor rings are used in network interface cards (NICs) from various manufacturers. A controller may include an interface to communicate with the off-the-shelf third-party NICs, such as by peripheral component interconnect express. The controller can be any combination of hardware or software.